Saturday Night Live Wiki:Studio 8H
Welcome to Studio 8H, our community portal. Here, you can find most of the links to our main pages, such as cast member profiles, important moments in SNL history and our archives of hosts and musical guests. ---- =The Wiki= ---- Interested in editing the wiki? The first place to start is by hovering over "Helping Out" at the top of the screen. The items in that menu will give you some general knowledge of wiki editing. After that, you may want to check out the style guide, which gives general guidelines on how pages should be laid out. Also, have a quick look at the conduct guide, which details how users should treat one another. Need an adult? The best people to contact are JeremyGU (talk page), who is the active administrator, and XD1 (talk page), a member of the Wikia staff who frequents here. Both can handle anything that requires an administrator. Note that the pages and talk pages are meant to read like an encyclopedia. If you want to have a discussion about SNL, check out the forums. That is also the place to go for general discussions regarding the wiki. Quick links *Style Guide - How to format articles *Conduct Guide - What is acceptable and what is not *the Sandbox - Where you can make test edits *All templates To-do *Many episode articles need edited to be brought in line with the new color-coded system. Episodes from seasons 37-39 are also done with the sketches listed in one section and the cast listed by sketch. It makes a lot more sense for the cast to be separate than the sketches (which is the current standardized style). *Category:Cast Members who Hosted isn't grammatically correct; could use renaming. * Many unused photos, most of which are fair use and shouldn't remain unused. *Change the main page slider to multiple photos for each option, via the "choose" tag. *I'm keeping an eye on a series of bugs with the welcome bot, user:Wikia. It has not been welcoming IPs (I've welcomed a couple manually), and it briefly logged itself out and started welcoming as user:127.0.0.1. Most recently, it welcomed a user and attributed the edit to my account, though I didn't make that edit (link). I've contacted Wikia about that last one, since mismatches between edits and user names is a pretty major problem. History of the wiki *The wiki was created on June 15, 2005 by User:Out-of-focus. The first edit was the creation of the main page. *The first image uploaded is a copy of the logo SNL used at that time. *The first video added was a Matt Foley cold opening, hosted on Hulu and added by User:A.W.S.Jr.. (Hulu videos no longer work; a 2013 agreement with Yahoo! meant the rights to old SNL clips were transferred to Yahoo! Screen.) *The 2000th photo was uploaded on April 21, 2014. (screengrab) ---- =Saturday Night Live= ---- :See also: What's SNL? Creators / Executive Producers *Lorne Michaels Co-Creator, Executive Producer 1975-1980, 1985-Present (Seasons 1-5, 11-present) *Dick Ebersol Co-Creator, Executive Producer 1981-1985 (Season 6 ep. 13-Season 10) *Jean Doumanian Executive Producer 1980-1981 (Season 6 eps. 1-12) Current Cast Notable Tenures SNL has been the home to many great talents and some have been on the series for an amazing period of time. Though there have been many great comedians on the series over 30 years, few have been on for 8 seasons or longer. Here is a (short) list of those who did and those who broke the record: *Darrell Hammond (14 Seasons: 1995-2009) - Longest-Serving Cast Member *Seth Meyers (12½ Seasons: 2001- 2014) - Second Longest Serving Cast Member *Al Franken (12 Seasons: 1979-80; 1985-86; 1987-1995) - Third Longest Serving Cast Member *Fred Armisen (11 Seasons: 2002-2013) - Longest Serving Hispanic Cast Member - Longest Serving Asian Cast Member *Kenan Thompson (11 Seasons and Counting: 2003-present) - Longest Serving African American Cast Member *Tim Meadows (9½ Seasons: 1991-2000) - Second Longest Serving African American Cast Member *Kevin Nealon (9 Seasons: 1986-1995) *Phil Hartman (8 Seasons: 1986-1994) *Horatio Sanz (8 Seasons: 1998-2006)- Second Longest Serving Hispanic Cast Member *Jason Sudeikis (8 Seasons: 2005-2013) *Will Forte (8 Seasons: 2002-2010) *Bill Hader (8 Seasons: 2005-2013) *Chris Parnell (7½ Seasons: 1998-2001; 2002-2006) *Amy Poehler (7½ Seasons: 2001-2008 - Longest Serving Female Cast Member) *Rachel Dratch (7 Seasons: 1999-2006) *Molly Shannon (7 Seasons: 1995-2001) *Will Ferrell (7 Seasons: 1995-2002) *Maya Rudolph (7 Seasons: 2000-2007 - Longest Serving Female African-American Cast Member) Also, SNL has been the home of some comedians for a very, very short time. Here are those who have the record shortest tenure: *Morwenna Banks (4 Episodes: April 08, 1995 - May 13, 1995) *Laurie Metcalf (1 Episode, April 11, 1981) *Emily Prager (Credited one episode, April 11, 1981; did not appear) In Memoriam A tribute to those involved with SNL who passed away. Posted next to each person's name is the year of their death. *John Belushi (1982) *Andy Kaufman (1984) *Gilda Radner (1989) *Danitra Vance (1994) *Michael O'Donoghue (1994) *Chris Farley (1997) *Phil Hartman (1998) *Charles Rocket (2005) *Herb Sargent (2005) *Tom Davis (2012) *Don Pardo (2014) *Jan Hooks (2014) Announcers *Don Pardo - Seasons 1-6, 8-40 *Mel Brandt - Season 7 *Darrell Hammond - Season 40-present Fill-in announcers *Bill Hanrahan - Season 7: December 5 and 12 shows *Joe Piscopo (imitating Don Pardo) - February 18, 1984 *Darrell Hammond (immitating Don Pardo) - Several times, including February 24, 1996 and March 2, 2013 History *1975-1980 *1980-1985 *1985-1990 *1990-1995 *1995-2000 *2000-2005 *2005-Present *Weekend Update Myths Saturday Night Live has seen many notable myths and confusions spread throughout its history. Louise Lasser as host It is often repeated that Louise Lasser was banned after a horrible performance, which included racing away from the monologue to lock herself in her dressing room. This rumor is mostly true, except for one fact: the dressing room scene was staged. Upon closer inspection, the cast's interaction with Lasser through the closed door is rehearsed, and it would have been impossible to hear Lasser through the door if the sound department hadn't made arrangements beforehand. However, while the dressing room sketch was pre-written, it was based upon her behavior during the week. She had been difficult to work with and high on drugs; at one point, she crawled into Lorne Michaels' office on her hands and knees. While it is the dressing room sketch that many remember, the proof of her behavior comes from what isn't in the show- Louise Lasser. As a means of keeping the show going, most of her sketches were cut; we only see her live in one sketch (which features her alone, talking to a dog), the opening monologue, a second (rambling) monologue, and two pre-taped pieces. Chevy Chase's injury It was said on the show, in the second episode of the second season, that Chevy Chase was injured in the previous episode. The injury was not real; it was scripted. (This rumor is often stretched to say this was the only time an ambulance was needed to take someone away during a show.) The immediate proof of this comes from the episode in which Chase was supposedly injured, September 18, 1976. The final sketch of the show is a large dance number, with host Lily Tomlin singing, called the "Antler Dance". Chase can clearly be seen dancing along with the rest of the cast, proving that he not only hadn't been rushed away, but was not suffering from any serious groin injury. In reality, Chase was already planning his exit when the second season was starting. (He had never signed a contract as an actor, only as head writer, and was not willing to sign an actor contract.) With Chase such an integral part of the show, singularly handling both the opening line and Weekend Update, some sort of transition was needed. Missing two episodes and returning for a few proved the best way to try out other cast members in the opening sketch and Update desk, and a fake story about an injury was the perfect backstory to explain being away while still being credited. Charles Grodin as host It is often repeated that, while hosting in season 3, Charles Grodin stopped the show several times to question the material, as well as showing up late. All of it was scripted. His late appearance to the opening is the easiest to explain. Had he really been late, he wouldn't have known where the live cameras were; the odds would be almost astronomical for him to walk in the live shot. In addition, a missing host would not trigger the cameras to be aimed at cast members having a real conversation about the missing host; something would be put forward to kill time (likely an extra sketch that had been cut after dress rehearsal). Later, Grodin does appear to stop two sketches- a Belushi samurai sketch (Samurai Dry Cleaners) and a sketch featuring the bees. The previous lampooning of the bees should have been a tipoff that the sketch wasn't real; but upon watching the scene, Grodin is noticeably reading his supposedly ad-libbed lines from a cue card. During the Samurai Dr Cleaners sketch, he both asks Gilda Radner questions about the scene, and appears to start reading Belushi's cue cards. However, Radner and Belushi's responses are more calm than actors reacting to an actual problem- as the Milton Berle episode shows, actual ad-libs cause the cast members to stumble, usually causing the show to briefly grind to a halt. The fact that Radner and Belushi react with little difficulty shows Grodin's actions were rehearsed. In reality, the fact that Grodin would write such breakings of the fourth wall should come as no surprise. He frequently pretends to have issues spring up on show appearances- he pretended to argue with Johnny Carson more than once, pretended to take a cell phone call on-air while talking to David Letterman, and complained to Jon Stewart about his treatment backstage when appearing on The Daily Show.The Awkward, Hostile, and Absolutely Hilarious Late Night Appearances of Charles Grodin In fact, Grodin has since stated that he specifically wrote the interruptions for his SNL appearance because improvising would be impossible, and learning the sketches would be more difficult due to their ever-changing nature.Interview with The AV Club: "I just got the idea that that would be funny, that I didn’t know it was live, that I had just come in from New York, and then I say, “This is live?” They asked me to do it again, but I chose not to, because I can do two things: I can learn a script, or I can improvise. But you can’t improvise there, because it’s all done to time, and you can’t learn a script, because they’re changing it, changing it, changing it, so you’re pretty much forced to read teleprompters, and I just didn’t want to do it again." Memorable Moments *The First Episode (October 11, 1975) *Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel reunite on SNL (October 18, 1975) *"Word Association" with Chevy Chase & Richard Pryor (December 13, 1975) *Ron Nessen hosts SNL, President Ford introduces show (April 17, 1976) *Saturday Night's alright for drinking: Kris Kristofferson live and hammered (July 31, 1976) *Chevy leaves the show; The Band makes its last television appearance together (October 30, 1976) *SNL's infamous Mardi Gras special -- There is NO FLOAT! (February 20, 1977) *Elvis Costello stops "Less Than Zero", jolts into "Radio, Radio" (December 17, 1977) *Chevy Chase and Bill Murray's pre-show fistfight (February 18, 1978) *Limo For Lame-o: Al Franken mocks NBC boss Fred Silverman (May 10, 1980) *End of an Era: Lorne Michaels leaves, as does the rest of "The Not Ready For Prime Time Players" (May 24, 1980) *Who Shot CR? Charles Rocket wants to know who the f*** did! (February 21, 1981) *Dick Ebersol takes over SNL (April 11, 1981) *John Belushi comes back for a non speaking cameo; FEAR grips Studio 8H (October 31, 1981) *John Belushi, dead at 33 (March 5, 1982) *The Audience Speaks: Andy Kaufman is voted off the show (November 20, 1982) *Andy Kaufman dies (May 16, 1984) *Lorne Michaels takes back SNL with teen power (November 19, 1985) *FUCK! The Replacements get hammered (January 18, 1986) *Burn, baby, burn!: The Finale Fire (May 24, 1986) *Lorne returns SNL to greatness with new cast of talent (October 11, 1986 ) *Gilda Radner dies of Ovarian Cancer the year after she's scheduled to host SNL (May 20, 1989) *Andrew "Dice" Clay hosts SNL, Nora Dunn & Sinead O'Connor protests the show (May 12, 1990) *Where the fuck this chicken come from -- I thought I ordered ribs! The Time on SNL (October 20, 1990) *Sinead O'Connor rips up a picture of the Pope, LIVE on SNL (October 3, 1992 ) *Some Of You Aren't Washing Your Ass Properly: Martin Lawrence's notorious monologue about feminine hygiene (February 19, 1994) *Hey, Hey, My, My: 8 days after Kurt Cobain is found dead, Pearl Jam give him a tribute (April 16, 1994) *GET OFF THE SHED! Another new cast (September 30, 1995) *Bulls on Parade: Rage Against The Machine lets the flags fly, protest Steve Forbes (April 13, 1996) *Pamela Anderson Lee lets it all hang out, sort of (April 19, 1997) *Chris Farley returns to host; dies 2 months later (Hosted October 25, 1997; Died December 18, 1997]]) *Norm MacDonald forced off Weekend Update (January 10, 1998) *Phil Hartman killed by his wife, kills herself (May 28, 1998) *Christopher Walken has a fever, and the only prescription is MORE COWBELL! (April 8, 2000) *The Wedding that wasn't: Tom Green and Drew Barrymore to get married on SNL, Drew gets cold feet (publicity stunt or not?) (November 18, 2000) *Mayor Giuliani says its time to be funny after 9/11 (September 29, 2001) *Adrien Brody "wigs out" (May 10, 2003) *Ashlee Simpson caught lip-synching (October 23, 2004) (video) *Colin Farrell had fun hosting SNL, I shit you not! (December 11, 2004) *System of a Down on SNL? FUCK YEAH! (May 7, 2005) *"That Man Just Yawned!": Arctic Monkeys call out an audience member; drop their instruments and walk-off stage (March 11, 2006) (video) *Jenny Slate fuckin' loves you (September 26, 2009) *SNL remembers the Sandy Hook shooting, and Samuel L. Jackson forgets the FCC (December 15, 2012) (video of the Sandy Hook memorial opening) (video of Jackson's slip) *The cast of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy reunite and sing with One Direction (December 7, 2013) *Melissa McCarthy wants someone to watch her shit, and Seth Meyers leaves SNL (February 1, 2014) (video) Banned List This is a list of performers/comedians who have been banned, or are rumored to have been banned, from ever againappearing on SNL. These people range from one-time hosts (Lasser, Berle, etc.) to regular guests (Kaufman) to former cast members who returned to host multiple times (Chase). The date posted beside their name denotes the day they were banned, and if they have a certain amount of years beside their name, either their ban was lifted (Elvis Costello) or they have since died. Names in bold note people and bands whose bans are still in effect. It's important to note that SNL has rarely made announcements when people were banned. Much of SNL's history of bans is rumor and speculation; many scripted performances have been confused for ad-libbing by the audience. Some of those listed below are rumored to have been banned, but it is possible or even likely that no such ban ever existed. Descriptions are given below; also see the "Myths" section above. *'Louise Lasser,' (July 24, 1976) who hosted at the end of the first season on July 24, 1976, was the first host banned by the producers. Lasser was said to be going through personal problems at the time and was reportedly nearly incoherent throughout the broadcast. It should be noted that her locking herself in her dressing room was scripted, not an unscripted occurrence as has been rumored, but the idea for the sketch came from Lasser's actual behavior during the previous week. This episode was such a disappointment to producer Lorne Michaels that it was also not repeated on NBC, although it has appeared in syndication since 1981. *'Charles Grodin,' (October 29, 1977) has supposedly never been asked back to host after his hosting in October of 1977. This famously rumored ban is one that is likely only a rumor; while many viewers believed Grodin was stopping the show to complain about the sketches, his lines were quite obviously scripted. *On December 17, 1977, Elvis Costello (December 17, 1977) (video) - 12 Years (returned 1989) performed as a last-minute replacement for the Sex Pistols, who were unable to obtain passports. NBC and the show's producer Lorne Michaels didn't want the band to perform "Radio, Radio", since the song protests the state of the media. The band defied them by beginning to play their song "Less Than Zero", stopping, with Costello telling the audience that there was no reason to do that song, and telling the band to play "Radio, Radio" instead. It infuriated Michaels because it put the show off schedule, and the band were barred from performing again. **Elvis Costello holds the distinction of being the only person to return to SNL after being banned. *Frank Zappa (October 21, 1978) - 15 Years (Died 1993) *Milton Berle (April 24, 1979) - 23 Years (Died 2002) *'FEAR' (October 31, 1981) (video) *'Robert Blake' (November 13, 1982) *Andy Kaufman (November 20, 1982) - 2 Years (Died 1984) *The Replacements (January 18, 1986) - 5 Years (broke up 1991, lead singer Paul Westerberg returned 1993) *'Steven Seagal' (April 20, 1991) *'Sinead O'Connor' (October 3, 1992) *'Cypress Hill' (October 3, 1993) *'Martin Lawrence' (February 19, 1994) *Rage Against The Machine (April 13, 1996) - 6 Years (Broke up 2002) *'Chevy Chase' (February 15, 1997) **Chevy has made subsequent guest appearances on SNL, but not as host. This is, most likely, to prevent him causing conflict with the rest of the cast throughout rehearsals and the live show. *'Adrien Brody' (May 10, 2003) (video) Awards 2014 American Comedy Awards *''Saturday Night Live'' in the category "Comedy Series" *Vanessa Bayer and Kate McKinnon in the category "Comedy Supporting Actress — TV" for their work on SNL *Bill Hader in the category "Comedy Supporting Actor — TV" for his work on SNL *SNL Alums Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Sarah Silverman, Will Ferrell, Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Fred Armisen, Amy Poehler, and Andy Samberg for projects in which they've participated since leaving SNL 2014 Emmy Award nominations *Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series: Kate McKinnon *Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series: Tina Fey and Melissa McCarthy *Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series: Jimmy Fallon and Louis C.K. *Outstanding Directing For A Variety Series *Outstanding Variety Series *Outstanding Hairstyling For A Multi-Camera Series Or Special *Outstanding Lighting Design *Outstanding Makeup For A Multi-Camera Series Or Special (Non-Prosthetic) *Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics *Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control For A Series *Outstanding Art Direction For Variety, Nonfiction, Reality or Reality-Competition Programming *Outstanding Musical DirectionSNL Tumblr: Congrats to our Emmy Nominees! 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